Target Women was hosted by Sarah Haskins as a recurring segment on Current's infoMania, a satirical news program that was available on Current's website and on Current TV.
In Target Women, Sarah looks at commercials featuring women and products for women, and discusses the stereotypes of women that they present using a lighthearted, snarky and humorous style.
Target Women provides and discusses examples of:
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Regarding the euphemisms used in ads for genital hygiene products, Sarah provides some questionable alternatives.Sarah: The next time words fail you in trying to describe your genitalia, just turn to the world of nature: my chia pet, my fern, my gentle alpaca, my sarlacc pit from Return of the Jedi.
- Bumbling Dad: Discussed and deconstructed
in "Doofy Husbands", which is about the portrayal of husbands in commercials as Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket. She even notes that the husband was cooler before "he married you and now he's slightly dumber than a dog".
- Hollywood Pudgy: Invoked; the "Wedding Shows" episode features an example from a WeTV show called Bulging Brides where a woman who is already gorgeous and Hollywood Thin is described as "looking like a chubster in that wedding dress". She is shown a photo-manipulated "future vision" projecting her future weight, complete with dramatic music and nearly making her cry— and, as Sarah points out:Sarah: Wait. That's what I look like now. [stares at the image and munches potato chips] Thanks, We. Without your wedding shows, I would still look like this and be single, which I am.
- Info Dump: The woman in the Yaz commercials who "casually" rattles off information and health warnings about the product to her friends in a nightclub, who is mocked in "Birth Control" and returns in "Ladyfriends."
- Male Gaze: Discussed in the "Carl's Junior" and "How to Get Hot Chicks".Sarah: The recent Carl's Jr. ad campaign could easily be called "Douchebaggery 101: Embracing your inner douche". It's a follow-up to "AP Objectification".
- Nobody Poops: "Number Two" is about companies' attempts to market laxatives and stool softeners to women without admitting that they poop. "You're Old" also discusses incontinence.Sarah: Let's jump on the euphemism train to Shittown! First stop, Fiberville!
- Sophisticated as Hell: The "Women are Pretty" compilation has quotations on ladylike behavior between segments from people like etiquette expert Emily Post and poet Lord Byron, plus this:
